Light Finally Comes on for Huskies, Win 24-21 After Outage
For three quarters, it seemed as if the University of Washington football team was just stumbling around in the dark, bumping into things.
Then the power went out at Husky Stadium, after Kalen DeBoer's guys had tied the score and 11:36 was left on the clock, and a funny thing happened.
Once this interruption in service was rectified and there was no need for Puget Sound Energy trucks to show up, the Huskies finally lit some candles, found their bearings and went on to a 24-21 victory over the 24th-ranked Oregon State Beavers.
When the lights went back on, the light went on for the home squad.
Peyton Henry's 22-yard field goal with eight seconds left enabled the Huskies (7-2 overall, 4-2 Pac-12) to survive an extremely difficult evening beside Lake Washington.
It was fair turnabout for the 2021 game in Corvallis that was decided by Everett Hayes' 24-yard field goal with 3:18 left to play and ended 27-24 for the Beavers.
"I was ready to go," Henry said. "Their kicker came up to me and said, 'I guess it was your turn this year.' "
The Henry field goal capped an extremely well-executed 18-play, 92-yard drive that began with 4:33 remaining and ended with time for only one Oregon State play.
With an ESPN-TV national audience left hanging as well, the stadium lights went off about 10:15 p.m. Fans lit up their cell phone lights. Oregon State headed for the locker room. UW players remained on the field and tried to stay loose. The delay lasted about 25 minutes.
The Huskies survived even after getting pushed around by OSU (6-3, 3-3) in the trenches much of the night on a windy but amazingly dry evening in Montlake.
"The guys just believe that's who we are," DeBoer said of pulling out the victory at the end. "We've just got to keep swinging. We're going to enjoy this one for sure."
Michael Penix Jr., the nation's leading passer coming in, completed 30 of 52 passes for 298 yards and a score — with his streak of 300-yard games ended at eight.
Spotting weaknesses other teams hadn't tried to expose, Jonathan Smith's Pac-12 entry decided it would have to beat the Huskies with the run rather than go after the UW secondary.
Oregon State freshman tailback Damien Martinez was as elusive and powerful as advertised, leading all rushers with 107 yards on 19 carries. Ben Gulbrandson threw the ball only 19 times at the Huskies, completing 12 of them for a paltry 87 yards.
The Beavers went after the Husky defensive front. They came out and landed the first punches. High, hard ones to the torso. The UW was left staggering, dazed.
There was no push initially up front compounded by maybe the Huskies' worst tackling quarter of the season.
OSU backs Deshaun Fenwick and Martinez ran wherever they pleased. The Beavers churned out an opening drive that covered 75 yards in nine plays — seven were rushes — and was capped by Fenwick's 3-yard touchdown run up the middle.
Easton Mascarenas-Arnold went 37 yards with an interception for six quick points in the second quarter for Oregon State.
Joe Nicholson/USA TODAY Sports
Getting the ball, the Huskies failed to score on their opening offensive set for the first time all season, punting after picking up a lone first down.
Make that trying to punt. It was a struggle in the opening quarter.
Redshirt freshman Jack McCallister had issues for the first time this season, shanking his first punt for 18 yards and dropping the snap on the second and having the ball blocked for an 8-yard loss.
Yet the Huskies got off easy for all their early ineptitude. OSU had every chance to put more points on the board, take firm control of this one and couldn't do it.
The Beavers moved from their 30 to the UW 6 just as easily as before only to turn the ball over on downs. On fourth-and-1, cornerback Mishael Powell took out the legs of powerful short-yardage back Jack Colletto for no gain.
On the play, Husky edge rusher Zion Tupuola-Fetui collided with someone so hard in the pile-up he was left prone on the ground and had to be helped from the field. He was able to play again.
Michael Penix Jr. had his worst outing for the Huskies against OSU.
Joe Nicholson/USA TODAY Sports
OSU's second drive also marked the return of linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio from his year-long absence caused by arm and knee injuries. He was eased in for the first two snaps and even helped teammate Dom Hampton chase down the Beavers' Jam Griffin for just a 2-yard gain.
The Huskies kept living dangerously. They permitted OSU to move all the way down the field again before stopping them on downs on a fourth-and-3 play at their 15 when Gulbrandson threw one incomplete.
The home team finally came to life on offense and methodically moved down the field for Wayne Taulapapa's 2-yard scoring run to knot the game with 4:23 left in second quarter. Cam Davis, the Huskies' Mr. Touchdown, would have drawn the honors but he had his helmet come off and had to leave the field.
Taulapapa went over the left side to tie the game at 7 and cap a methodical 15-play, 85-yard drive that lasted six minutes and 46 seconds.
To get the ball up the field and into the end zone, Penix had to complete a clutch fourth-and-10 play from his 33, finding Jalen McMillan wide open for a 15-yarder on the right sideline.
On this night, however, the UW was often its own worst enemy.
After forcing the Beavers to punt inside the final two minutes of the first half, Penix took the second snap and threw into triple-coverage over the middle.
OSU made him pay severely for that mistake.
Reserve linebacker Easton Mascarenas Arnold stepped in front of McMillan, intercepted the ball on the run and sped 37 yards for a go-ahead score, making it 14-7 at the break.
It was the second pick-six thrown by the Husky quarterback this season, with the other coming against Arizona State on a deflected pass. Penix remained undaunted.
"We weren't giving up until there were all zeroes on the clock," Penix said. "That's all it was. I'm tired."
Coming out for the second half, the teams traded punts before the Huskies tied the game again at 14 on Penix's 37-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jack Westover, standing all alone in the end zone near the right pylon.
The Beavers, however, rolled 79 yards in 11 plays, nine on the ground, for Fenwick's second TD and the go-ahead points. Out of the Wildcat, he went over the right side untouched from 19 yards out behind perfectly executed blocks with 39 seconds left in the third quarter and it was 21-14.
Into the fourth quarter they went and the Huskies put together a 66-yard drive in nine plays for another Taulapa touchdown, this one a 4-yard run over the right side, and the game was tied at 21.
Then the lights flickered and went out, something not seen since 2019 when the lightning-interrupted game against California took place. Once everything was back up and running, the UW was ready to go for the win.
The Huskies forced OSU to punt and the Beavers put it on the UW 3.
Ever so carefully, the Huskies moved up the field. Davis ran for 15 yards and a first down. He made a third-down diving catch for another first down. Wideout Giles Jackson ran 12 yards down to the OSU 2. That set up Henry for the win. The clock was properly spent. The wind died down. Everything ended well.
Now the Huskies turn their attention to Oregon, the toughest game on their schedule next week in Eugene. This was a run-through.
"Beating one Oregon school has to mean something for the other," UW wide receiver Rome Odunze said.
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